Uzbekistan offers investors 128 oil and gas blocks with large gas resources

Uzbekistan offers 128 oil and gas blocks with large gas reserves to investors

Uzbekistan aims to strengthen cooperation with foreign companies in the fields of expanding geological exploration, increasing field efficiency, and deep processing of raw materials in the oil and gas sector. President Shavkat Mirziyoyev announced this on October 16 during an open dialogue with investors in the fuel and energy sector.

According to the head of state, Azerbaijan's SOCAR and Great Britain's BP (British Petroleum) are currently conducting geological exploration work on six investment blocks in the Ustyurt region.

In addition, another 128 blocks planned to be offered to foreign partners in other regions of Uzbekistan have been prepared. According to preliminary estimates, the resources of these blocks amount to 5.8 trillion cubic meters of natural gas and 560 million tons of liquid hydrocarbons.

The President emphasized that competition, transparency, and economic efficiency should be the main criteria in developing these resources.

The exact areas where the 128 blocks are located, the deadlines for offering them to investors, and the approximate terms of cooperation have not yet been specified. Likewise, it has not been disclosed how much of the initially estimated resources could belong to recoverable reserves.

On July 24, 2025, the Ministry of Energy of Uzbekistan, the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR), and "Uzbekneftegaz" signed a product sharing agreement (PSA) for a five-year period.

The document provides for geological exploration work and subsequent hydrocarbon extraction in the investment blocks of the Ustyurt oil and gas region.

According to the document, prospecting and exploration work, as well as the drilling of at least one exploration well, are scheduled to be completed within five years. During this period, SOCAR will act as the operator.

Within the framework of the project, 100 million tons of oil and 35 billion cubic meters of natural gas are projected to be identified. According to experts, this refers to "the possibility of discovering a large field with huge oil resources."